


Sector 4-1

by YaToGoRi



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, Blood and Torture, Character Death, Child Abuse, Clones, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Human Experimentation, Multi, Post-Apocalypse, Science, Science Experiments, Suicidal Thoughts, Virus, War, more tags to be added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-04 05:47:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13357803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YaToGoRi/pseuds/YaToGoRi
Summary: Thirty years ago, atomic war brought about 'the apocalypse'. The radiation released turning most viable crop and food matter inedible. Many died in the famine. Many more at the hands of the 'Lost Virus' that spread soon after.Twenty years ago, for fear of a second war, Professor Leo Akaba began to research human cloning, to create an artificial army that could fight the oncoming war without harming what remained of humanity.Two years ago, Leo succeeded, but not without cost. Losing his own son in the process but cloning his body four times over. Leo was found dead soon after, his research destroyed and the clones forgotten in the underground government facility, Sector 4-1.Now, Yuya has never known anything but the inside of the facility he was created in. He is merely a tool to be used for science, a failed experiment, an imperfect clone. Tested, tortued and prodded every day, he has been taught to never feel pain and never think for himself.After overhearing the planned execution of the Akaba Clones, one of Yuya's doctors frees him. Tells him of three others and aids him in escape. Left alone in a barren world, and on the run from the Sector, they will do anything to survive.





	1. The Boy with the Golden Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Everyone! :)
> 
> Yay Sci-Fi! Ok, in all honesty, I have absolutely NO idea why I wrote this. In fact I was just kinda flicking through a stack of 'brainstorm notes' and well... this seemed to be a collaboration of several stupid ideas that added on to one another in amongst watching Dr Who and Yu-Gi-Oh. 
> 
> I figured I'd give it a shot, and to be honest, once I actually started to think about it, I got more and more motivated to write it, even excited to see what you guys think! 
> 
> So without further ado, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Also I apologise for the ridiculously long summary... I couldn't find a way to cut it and actually used up the entire character count... oops :P)

_There is no change in this world._

 

“Zarc hurry up!” 

“Coming father!” 

A small boy runs across the street, his spiky silver hair highlighted with strips of green. Leo watches and smiles as the boy runs up to him, small hand curling and intermingling with his own. “Where are we going?” his small voice asks in curiosity. Soft golden eyes looking expectantly up at him. 

“The circus, I thought I’d spoil you before mum got home.” The boy’s face lights up in the brightest smile Leo has ever seen. 

“Really!” he chirps, snuggling closer to his leg, grip tightening in excitement.   
“Yes really,” Leo laughs, “come on now or we’ll miss it!”

 

_No morning, no night. No sun, no moon._

 

“Dad?” Leo looks up from the desk, 

“Hm? Oh its you Zarc, how was school?” The young boy walks in grunting in disapproval as he drops his schoolbag on the table. “That bad huh?”  
“Well its not ‘that bad’ just that it’s boring! I mean what even is the point to any of it? And what moron came up with the idea of homework? Why do we spend seven hours of our day at school working only to come home to do more? It doesn’t make any sense!” Leo laughs,

“Well I’m afraid it can’t be helped, you do want to work with me at the Facility when your older so your going to have to suffer through school like the rest of us. Besides, you have it easy!” The young teen looks up from the couch, scowling. 

“How? How do I have it easier than you?”  
“Well in my day we didn’t have Google to rely on! Plus you have a laptop for typing, my essays were done by hand.” Leo smiles internally at the expression on his son’s face.

“W—Well,” he starts, but its too late, Leo has won this argument. Huffing in exasperation he stands up walking over to where Leo is fawning over the stack of research papers on his desk. “What ‘cha working on?” Zarc inquires, picking up a diagram of what looks like a futuristic machine, some kind of capsule.

“A top-secret government experiment,” Leo replies bluntly, Zarc picks up another picture.

“You can’t tell me?” Zarc pouts, looking sideways at his father with a hopeful glint in his eye. 

“No. I’m not allowed to disclose any information, but maybe if your work a bit harder in class…” Leo reaches up and ruffles Zarc’s silver hair, “I’ll tell you.” 

 

_Its boring, but its not painful. Just a bit lengthy._

 

“Reiji this is my son Zarc, from now on he’ll be working with us.” Leo’s face glowed with pride as Zarc walked into the testing chamber. A tall man in red glasses hurried over clad in a white lab coat, clutching a clipboard to his chest as he stuck out a hand. 

“I’ve heard so much about you Mr. Akaba, your father can’t help but boast of your amazing contributions to this field,” Zarc blushed and gratefully returned the handshake.

“Dad,” he said sliding his eyes to his beaming father’s face, “do you have to embarrass me on my first day?” 

“Of course I do! I’m your father, that’s my job.” Zarc couldn’t suppress the groan that escaped his lips, Reiji smiled,clearly amused at the pair’s antics.   
“Well then,” Reiji led them into the chamber, it was large and spacious, a variety of men and women bustled about in white lab coats. “Are you familiar with our current work Zarc?” Zarc shook his head,

“I’ve heard rumours but that’s hardly anything in comparison to the real thing.” Reiji nodded,

“And what do the rumours say?”  
“Nothing much,” Zarc said innocently, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his lab coat, “some unsavoury stuff about creating an artificial army, plotting the end of the world, researching some miracle drug that will bring about the end of humanity. Y’know the usual skeptics.” Reiji had to laugh, it was true, they were a top-secret military research facility, the press weren’t allowed in so they spent their supposedly dwindling free-time talking with conspiracy theorists who believe them to be a part of the Illuminati. 

“Well, while I can assure you that ending the human race is not high on our to-do list, the artificial army has some merit.” Zarc raised and eyebrow, looking towards his father for clarification. Leo just shrugged as Reiji scanned a keycard before opening the stainless steel doors. 

Zarc couldn’t help it, when he first lay eyes on the machine he gasped, it was large, taking up the entirety of the room. Several hundred cords and cables filled with colourless liquid were splayed to the four corners, linking the four glass capsules to the centre when a large cylinder stood. The smaller containers were filled with some kind of liquid that bubbled and glowed a soft blue. 

“This is the Artificial Recreation Circuit, or ARC for short,” Leo announced proudly, “or less specifically, as some call it, a cloning machine.” 

“Cloning?” Zarc asked, a mix of awe and surprise in his voice, “so this is the top-level secret information you’ve been hiding all these years.” Leo smiled sheepishly, Zarc walked up and tapped the centre cylinder. “But why?” he asked, curiously watching as the skin of the machine seemed to pulse as if it was alive. Leo shot Reiji a glance, Reiji nodded silently, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Leo sighed, 

“Zarc, you know about the atomic war right? The one that occurred thirty years ago?”  
“Of course, who doesn’t?”  
“Well, the fact remains that we are running out of food, and our intel from other countries says that soon it will be every man for himself.” Zarc’s eyes widened, fear suddenly alight in his golden irises. 

“What do you mean?” he choked, already afraid of the answer. 

“I’m afraid a second war may very well be on its way…” Zarc gulped, he’d heard about the war in school, how the severe increased levels in radiation had put the biosphere at risk. Destroying most of the world’s plant life. He’d never wanted to think about how eventually everyone would be fighting over food. 

“But why _cloning_?” he finally asked, looking up to the ARC again. “Why bother with recreating and replicating matter? What good will that do?”

“Well, we had originally hoped that we would be able to clone food, create more crop by duplicating what we already have…” Leo walked to stand by his son, reaching out a hand to touch the cylinder like a father might touch his sick child’s forehead, “that had been the original pun in the anagram, ARC, as in Noah’s ark, sure the spelling’s different but the initial premise was the same. To carry the animals to safety from the flood. Or in this case, stop the war by feeding the masses again. Save lives.” Zarc looked at his father, he seemed so sad, even though his work could save billions. 

“Unfortunately, we are too late.” Leo snapped around, loosing the haunted look on his face as he smiled at Zarc, “even if most of the radiation levels are low in what we have left, not enough to harm a human, only small amounts of Gamma radiation after all, but exposing it to ARC…” he trailed off, looking distant again, “would result in failure, more radiation could be released and possibly a mutated form of the Lost Virus.” 

Zarc sucked in a breath, the Lost Virus. The radiation disease that had sprung up with the increased levels in the atmosphere. It apparently made people go mad before it killed them, a horrifying image of Leo strapped to a bed while the virus worked its way through him sprung in Zarc’s head making him shudder, ghost cries of pain and the yells of a creature with his father’s voice echoing in his imagination for the briefest second. A vaccine had been created some twenty years ago, so Zarc himself was safe, but viruses were unpredictable, he didn't want to know what could happen if it got smarter. 

“But Dad,” he said, suddenly confused, “why keep ARC intact? If you knew it would be a failure, why continue? Why am I here?” Leo smiled gently, 

“Well… we figured that if we couldn’t save the planet from starvation, the government figured we could at least find a way to save, or defend, Japan.” 

“Defend… Japan… with a cloning machine?” 

“Well, if we can’t replicate food, maybe we could replicate people.”  
“And how would that help?”  
“Think about it. Clones are better described as artificial, or homunculi. If they were sent into war, the casualties of actual people wouldn’t be so high.” Zarc nodded, that made sense, artificial creatures that wouldn’t question loyalty to their country and could best be described as ‘disposable soldiers’ to keep the humans safe. 

“So why am I here?” he asked again, 

“Because I want you to have the honour to be the first person cloned.”

 

_The concept of time blurs and fades away, so distant, but suddenly…_

 

“You ready Zarc?” Leo chews his lip, Zarc is standing in the central cylinder of ARC, hooked up to the machine through electrodes. He’d run the tests, done the maths, checked and double checked his calculations, hell he’d even cloned four goddamn sheep before letting his son into this machine. His whole life he’d been waiting for this moment. It would work, it had to work, if it didn’t, he’d made sure that the safety features were in place to shut the machine off before anything too drastic happened. 

“I’m ready Dad!” Zarc called, he didn’t look too fazed, he trusted him too much. 

Leo gulped, this was it. It was sink or swim, if this worked, not only his, but his son’s name would go down in history.

“Zarc!” he called, 

“Hm?” 

“I—I love you.” Leo stammered, but Zarc just smiled his brilliant smile, the kind of smile that could brighten anyone’s day and make them feel warmer no matter how cold it might be. 

“I know, love you too.” Zarc sucked in a deep breath, calming himself, “see you on the other side. Do it Dad!”

Leo flipped the switch. 

ARC lit up, a soft blue light emanating from the skin of the machine, the hum of electricity crackled as the glow of the capsules brightened. Zarc sat in the central container, chewing his lip nervously as the scanner whizzed around his head, digitalising his measurements and features. The data, collected was processed by ARC before energy sped through the colourless liquid, making the capsules at the four corners of the room glow to the point of being white. 

“ _All systems online_ ,” the mechanical voice of ARC spoke, “ _beginning cloning sequence_.”

Suddenly, Zarc screamed. Writhing in agony as he sat, strapped to the bench in the central container. Leo instantly pressed forward, shutting off ARC, but nothing happened, the machine began to hum, this time louder. The noise almost drowning out Zarc’s cries. Leo clapped his hands over his ears, but moved to his son, hoping to manually unlock the container. 

Zarc had his eyes tightly shut, screaming with everything he had, crying out in pain as Leo approached. The light within ARC had changed, a violet glow illuminating the testing chamber as a deep scarlet liquid began running though the tubes. Leo watched in horror, noticing that ARC was taking Zarc’s _blood_. Using it as a boost to its DNA recreation circuits in the clone capsules. ARC had somehow developed some sort of conscious as it was snaking its cords in and plunging them into Zarc’s back, sucking the life out of him.

Leo wrenched on the door, but it was locked tight. No digital overrides were working to reprogram the machine, the safety features disabled. Leo pressed his hand to the container.

“ZARC!!” he screeched, but his son kept thrashing, his movements slowing, he was loosing a lot of blood. “ZARC!” 

Zarc’s eyes opened through the pain, watching the horrified expression on his father’s face. Zarc could feel it. He was going to die. He squeezed his eyes shut, having lost the strength to fight the machine, lost the breath to scream, lost the will to live. 

He looked up at his father who was banging on the container door with a fire extinguisher, behind him through bleary eyes, Zarc could see Reiji looking on in horror at the scene before him. His father was yelling and Zarc felt a tear slide down his cheek. This was it. 

“N..no,” he croaked, putting all his effort into his words, “d..on’t… come… too… late, go.”

He raised his head to meet his father’s terrified gaze, and gave him the best smile he could. _Goodbye, Dad._

The world blinked and faded into blackness. 

 

_Wake up._

 

“No…” Leo sunk to the floor, hands pressed against the glass. Inside the container was nothing but a small pile of ash. Zarc’s skin had turned grey, cracking like dry earth. It had been a rapid mutation of the Lost Virus. The radiation that Zarc had been exposed to inside ARC had been too much. 

His body had disintegrated. He was gone. 

“It’s my fault…” Leo whispered, watching as the small, fine grains of ash swirled around. “Zarc… he’s…” Leo gulped, shock. That's what he was in, shock. It lasted a few seconds before grief, hurt and loss crashed down. “ZARC!!” he screamed, “ZARC!!” 

Reiji looked at the scene before him in horror. He’d seen the machine go rogue, seen how the Lost Virus mutated and coursed through Zarc’s body like wildfire, the kind boy he’d met was dead, and his father lay screaming in front of quite possibly man’s greatest feat of technological genius. 

He walked hesitantly forward but got no more that three steps before the light suddenly shut off, the hum fading to nothing and the only sound left was the despaired cries of Professor Leo Akaba. Followed soon after by another voice, cutting through the screams like a knife through butter. A robotic voice. 

_“Data uploaded. Cloning successful. Unlocking capsules.”_

Reiji’s eyes widened, even Leo looking up though his tears, as the four capsules unlocked. The steam hissing as what appeared to be four human shapes fell out. Crumpling in heaps as soon as they left the machine. 

Reiji ran over, rolling over the ‘human’ and gasping in astonishment at its resemblance to the man who had died not five minutes ago, aside from the fact that this person had a much different hairstyle, duel coloured red and green. Quickly, he pressed his fingers to the boy’s neck. Gasping he ran to the next, a boy almost exactly the same as the one before save for his swept up amethyst and onyx hair. 

Like a chicken with its head cut off he ran to the next boy and the final one. They weren’t completely perfect recreations of Zarc Akaba, but they were possibly as close as they were going to get. 

“You did it sir,” he said tentatively to the man on the ground, “the clones were a success, they’re alive.”

 

_There was a voice that was calling to me, reaching out to me and taking me away from that world without change._

_Taking me to a world where there is time and space and a sun and a moon._

_But a world, that is not any brighter and far more painful._


	2. Failed Experiments

The boy groaned, forced into a sitting position as a needle was injected into his upper arm. He didn’t feel any pain, he wasn’t _allowed_ to feel any pain. The liquid forced into his bloodstream felt like fire, but he wasn’t supposed to think that. Something in his chest clenched, he felt something rip up his throat, forcing its way out of his mouth. What noise was this? 

The doctor walked over, a look of rage etched onto his unblinking face. He glared down at the boy, nose wrinkling in disgust. _Why?_ Thought the boy, _everyone looks at me like that, why?_

“Know your place Yu-1YA,” the doctor snarled, “your not allowed to make a sound, you are nothing but a failure.” The man turned to the woman by the door. “Feel free to punish him, take him back to his cage.” The woman nodded, forcing the boy none to gently to his feet. He felt dizzy, his long red and green hair flopping in his eyes. She gripped his arm harder as he almost fell over, nails biting into his flesh. 

She shoved him in front of her, practically throwing him down the sterile white hallway, he tripped and collapsed. The woman curled her lip at the boy, he was acting too human. She yanked him to his feet, ignoring the gasp of pain that escaped, he wasn’t allowed to talk, he shouldn't be making any noise. They reached the end of the hall, to the bolted steel door. With a wave of her keycard she threw him inside, leaving him in the dark as she slammed the door behind her. 

“Why do I have to touch that thing?” she was mumbling as she stormed off, “I don’t even understand why the Doctor keeps it. We have much bigger things we need to be researching but instead we spend out time on failed experiments.”

The boy curled his hands into the fabric of his white shirt, trying not to cry. Why did everyone treat him this way, he didn't understand, he didn't have any memories, he wasn’t allowed to express any emotions, but wasn’t he as human as they were? 

He scratched his neck under the collar, thankful that they hadn’t decided to use the remote that turned it on. He winced at the fiery liquid, it hurt so much. He knew what it was, he just didn't understand why it wasn’t effecting him. He could feel it, feel the virus trying to snap his mind, feel the dose trying to crack his skin. It was painful, it was agony. 

The boy curled himself into the corner of the dark room with no furniture, no bed, no table, no food. Shutting his eyes against the pain and feigning sleep. If he was lucky, this dose would do it, would kill him. 

Maybe then he wouldn’t have to live through this anymore.

 

* * *

 

“Useless!” the Doctor screeched, throwing the tablet across the room. Angrily he looked up to the screens again, the four boys were doing nothing. They weren’t reacting to the Lost Virus and instead were all curled up against the walls of their cells. Why wasn’t he getting any readings off of them? They should be feeling _something_ at least!

He curled his lip at the top right hand screen, number Yu-1YA. It clearly seemed to be pretending to sleep. None of them had shown any promise in the whole two years of their miserable existence. What was the point in scientific breakthroughs if the creator died and his research was destroyed? The Doctor had known Leo Akaba, he had been a remarkable man. Dedicated, brilliant and successful in recreating matter. He’d done the impossible, cloned a human body, not once but _four_ times. It didn’t make sense as to why he had committed suicide. What could that man possibly have to be sad about? 

The Doctor had taken the clones in soon after, removing them from the Facility and setting them up in the best kept secret in scientific research. After all the Akaba Clones weren’t going to achieve much in a laboratory that was running out of funds. The government itself asked the Doctor to take the clones to Sector 4-1. 

Sector 4-1 was a research facility that dealt with the impossible. Worked on finding the reasons for the absurd and these clones were no exception.If he could replicate and improve on what Leo had been trying to accomplish, then his death would not have been in vain. 

The clones he had now though were hardly complete, aside from the obvious similarities of body, blood, DNA and facial structure, they were too different to be considered a success. They each seemed to show the abilities of free will, something the clones should be incapable of. Plus the colourings of their eyes and hair were all off, no where near exact replications. 

“Sir we’re getting a reading from number Yu-4RI!” The Doctor swung round to gaze hopefully at the most promising of the clones, number Yu-4RI. Situated in the bottom left hand screen, the boy was clutching his head in pain.

“Switch on the audio for that room!” he commanded, and soon the strangle moans and cries filtered through the overhead speakers. 

“No,” the boy was saying, hands balling into fists and fingers tugging at his violet locks, “Please… no!” The boy screamed, pulling himself to his knees and yelling. The dosage beginning to take affect. The Doctor’s grin widened, the boy’s fingertips turning grey, but then it stopped. The Doctor frowned, the greying skin retreating and the boy falling unconscious against the polished floor of his cell. 

The clones were useless. The other three numbers were going to have to go, but Yu-4RI, he could maybe live a little longer. That final dosage must have done something promising to his mind. 

“Prepare the execution fluid,” he said finally to the man by the door. “I want all Akaba Clones besides number Yu-4RI to be out of my sight by the end of the week.” 

 

* * *

 

Dennis MacField had had it. When he was ordered to prepare the execution fluid for the Akaba Clones, he’d decided that he’d had enough. He had been forced to take notes on all four of them, in particular Yu-1YA and Yu-4RI. Seeing them twist in agony but not allowed to scream was awful. They may not technically be ‘real humans’ but they deserved the right to live. No one, not even artificial someones, should have to go though that. 

Dennis walked down the hallway and up the stairs, reaching the testing floor in a matter of minutes. He tried to look busy with his clipboard as a group of doctors hurried past, hoping against hope that they hadn’t realised he wasn't supposed to be on this floor for another two hours. 

Sector 4-1 was a decisive maze, while an underground facility. The thing didn't even start before 1000 feet below ground, then actually went down for another fifty levels. The first ten levels were reserved for survivors of the apocalypse and were decked out with housing equipment, blankets and food for those who had nowhere left. Which, by this point was about 95% of the human population. 

The remaining citizens could have the option of joining the army to fight the Lost, or could become a scientist to work on the new vaccine. The Lost Virus had gotten worse since the arrival of the mutated form some two years ago, it now had the power to physically turn people to dust if they had been infected for too long. However, it also increased the physical ability of a person infected, snapping their mind in the process to create some kind of monster. The ‘Lost’ were dangerous, they needed to be put down and so the army sent out regular squads to go take them out. Few returned. 

Deciding that joining the army was a sure way to get himself violently killed, Dennis had chosen the science path. While he himself was not the brightest person, he was instructed to take observational notes on test subjects and Oddities. Oddities had been the name given to people who were… different, either physically or though abilities. There had been a few Oddities before the War, but since the radiation hit, people had even begun to develop abilities. The Sector had been set up to research them, but now they were simply used as lab rats to test the vaccine on, or, as with the Akaba Clones. To test the symptoms and effectiveness of the Lost Virus. 

The Akaba Clones were needless to say the jewels of the scientific crown. They were almost exact replications of each other but were failures as far as their initial purpose had been. The clones hadn't meant to be able to express free will, nor have their own personas, but thats what had happened. They hadn’t been created as mindless soldiers, but actual people. 

Sector 4-1’s floors ten through twenty-five had been assigned to the military, while the remaining floors were handed to science. They were the bottom levels and the Akaba Clone testing floor was number 45. 

Anything past this point, further down, was better described as prison. Walking down there would be a deathtrap. Not only was the floors loaded down with weaponry, and guarded sentinels, but the final five floors held the Lost Hospital. Where the caged animals that were once human, were kept as far away from the survivors as possible. Dennis shuddered at the memory, he’d been forced down there once with a doctor to take notes on a new arrival. 

The inhuman screeches and blank, predator like yellow eyes that had jumped at him from the shadows of the cage, the thick nails raking across the bars…

“Dennis!” Dennis startled and turned to see the woman in the lab coat, Dr Maiko Mokota.

“Hello Dr Mokota,” he said smiling, “what’s up?”

“Oh Dennis,” she sighed, “what are you up to? Your not supposed to be on this floor for another two hours when number Yu-3GO’s testing is due.” 

“I—I know…’ he said, suddenly sad as he thought of the Akaba Clones again, “I was told… by the Doctor himself… to y’know… prepare the execution fluid.” Her smile turned sympathetic, 

“Oh Dennis,” she repeated, “I’m so sorry, I know how much those things mean to you.”

“They’re not _things_. They’re people too! Those boys don’t even know why they are being experimented on!” he snapped, suddenly angry about how he seemed to be the only one who saw those boys as human beings. No one else seemed to care about how they felt, they saw them as nothing but _things_. It really pissed him off.

He looked back to Dr Makota, she looked stunned, mouth hanging open, “Dennis…” she started, but he’d had enough. He spun on his heel and left her in the corridor. He knew what he had to do, he was leaving Sector 4-1 and whether the Doctor liked it or not, he was taking the Akaba Clones with him. 

 

* * *

 

The boy looked up, surprised at the sound of the door of his cell being unlocked, he squinted through bleary eyes at the man who walked in. He looked like a regular doctor, but his eyes were much kinder, his orange hair bouncing as he walked over to him. 

The boy scrambled back, afraid that the man was going to take him away, inject more of the fiery substance into him and grin as he writhed in agony. He pressed his palms into his eyes, back pressed into the cold stone wall of his prison. He didn't care if the man punished him, he needed to cry, it wasn’t fair. The man lay a hand on his knee, making the boy flinch, wide eyes looking at the hand on his leg. 

It was gentle, not rough, not gripping, just, laying there. He looked up at the man, the corners of his mouth were twitched in a sad smile. It wasn’t cruel and cold, but warm and genuine. The boy didn't understand. 

The man reached into his pocket and for a moment the boy was terrified again, fearing the remote that switched on the collar, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes again and looked at the thing in the man’s hand. It was small and wrapped in brightly colours. The boy had never seen anything so beautiful, so many colours he didn't know the names of, he reached out to touch it. 

The man smiled, taking the boy’s hand and curling his fingers around the small object. “It’s called candy,” the man said softly, the corners of his eyes crinkled in a smile, “my name’s Dennis, Dennis MacField. What about you?” The boy gasped, flinging his other hand across his mouth, he wasn’t allowed to talk, if he did the man might punish him. The man reached up and pushed his hand, “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you, what’s your name?”

The boy studied Dennis, he didn't seem to be lying, he opened his mouth, saying the only thing he’d ever been called, uttering words he was never allowed to speak. “Y—Yu-1YA.” he whispered, pressing his hand to his mouth again. A tear springing at the corner of his eye. Dennis smiled again, a warm smile that made him feel… what was this? Safe?

“Yu-1YA? Well that won’t do! It sounds too much like a number, you need a proper name!” Dennis stood up, looking like he was thinking before suddenly his face lit up, holding out a hand to the boy, “come on, I’m getting you out of here, Yuya.” 

Yuya? The boy chewed his lip, he liked that name, he tentatively reached out, yelping as Dennis yanked him to a standing position. But it wasn’t painful, more playful, “Come on Yuya!” Dennis grinned, “let’s go get your brothers!”

Yuya was confused, “B—brothers? What… is… that?” he asked softly, he was starting to like hearing his own voice, it was deeper than he thought and sounded like he felt. It was a new sensation. Dennis startled, he considered it for a second then winked. Giving Yuya that warm smile. 

“A brother is a person who is connected to you forever.” Dennis said smiling, “You may not believe me Yuya, but your not the only one suffering like this, there are three other boys who look just like you, who are being treated exactly like you, and I am going to get out of here, exactly like you.” 

Yuya yelped again as Dennis grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of that dark cell and into the blinding lights of the hallway, Yuya flinched a little at the testing room but Dennis pulled him past it, picking up speed as the raced through the halls. 

Yuya couldn’t help but look around as Dennis pulled him on, he’d never seen anything past that testing chamber and everything, despite looking almost exactly the same, was new. Dennis pulled up short for a second, Yuya almost crashing into him. Dennis held him back as a group of doctors hurried past, luckily they didn't notice them, Dennis and Yuya took off again. 

It felt so good to run, Yuya had only ever walked between his cell and the testing chamber, usually falling over and being dragged back. Running had a freedom that he’d never thought possible. 

Dennis turned a corner and heard Yuya suck in a breath, the hallway they had stepped into was exactly like the one Yuya had just escaped from, the big metal door at the other end. Dennis put his hands on Yuya’s shoulders, “Yuya, listen to me,” his voice was full of worry, “I’m not putting you back in there, we’re here to get your brothers out remember? Didn’t I say that they were in the same situation as you?” 

Yuya nodded, soft red eyes meeting light blue as they walked towards the door. Dennis produced a keycard with his right hand, holding gently onto Yuya’s with his left. The door made a hiss and fluorescent light spilled into the dark cell. The boy in the corner looked up from his ball and blinked at the sudden light. 

Yuya took a step back, a gasp escaping his lips as he saw the boy’s face. It was exactly like his own, save for the silver eyes and swept up hair. Yuya could see the boy staring at him too, looking him up and down, noticing how the white shirt and pants matched his own and the same metal collar had been strung around his neck. 

Dennis walked in and like with Yuya crouched in front of the boy, the boy instantly got to his feet, eyes wide with fear and determination. He looked from Yuya to Dennis with suspicion. Dennis stood, “Hey hey hey it’s okay!” Dennis put his hands up, gesturing to Yuya Dennis spoke again, “This is Yuya, and I’m Dennis, what’s your name?”

“Yu-2TO.” The boy said curtly, Yuya felt his eyes widen, it was so similar to his old name. Could this person really be his brother? Dennis smiled,

“You need a better name than that, how about, Yuto?” the boy blinked, as if he was considering the word.

“Yu—to?” Yuto smiled slightly, the name had a good ring to it. Dennis grinned, holding his hand back out to Yuto, 

“Come on, we’re getting out of here,” Yuto took a moment to consider before looking to Yuya who was still standing a the door, as if asking for his permission. Yuya nodded, the boy visibly relaxing before taking Dennis’ hand. 

The threesome then started running again, Dennis grinning as the two boys cast glances between each other every so often. Two down, two to go. 

 

* * *

 

 

Soon they were standing in front of another door, as the light spilled into the cell the first thing the boy inside did was try to punch Dennis. 

“Leave me alone!” he yelled, turquoise eyes watering with tears, “I don’t want to be you people’s pet anymore!”

Dennis left Yuya and Yuto at the door, Yuya instinctively curling his hand into Yuto’s and pulling him in closer. He didn't know why but something about Yuto made him feel safe. Yuto for his part didn’t even flinch, holding Yuya tighter as they looked as Dennis tried to calm the yelling boy down. He looked exactly like him and Yuto save for the long navy hair and blonde bangs. 

“Hey! I’m not going to do anything!” Dennis said, “look what’s your name?” The boy eyed him suspiciously, looking for the first time at Yuya and Yuto. Yuya watched as his eyes widened and he instantly shut up, looking them over before mumbling something. “What was that?” Dennis asked, 

“I said my name is Yu-3GO! Geez old man! What the hell do you want?”

Dennis sighed, this was starting to get slightly repetitive, “this is Yuya and Yuto, we’re escaping. Yugo.” 

The boy flinched, dragging his eyes off Yuya and Yuto, “What did you just call me?” Dennis smiled, 

“Yugo, Yu-3GO isn’t a proper name. Now are you coming with us or not?” 

 

* * *

 

 

Less than five minutes they were standing in front of the final door, Dennis looked back at the three identical boys, Yuya and Yuto hadn’t let go of each other’s hands and Yugo was rambling on under his breath, something that was clearly annoying Yuto. Dennis smiled, as he unlocked the last cell, walking up to the final boy. 

The last boy had looked up at the small party but didn't seem the least bit fazed by the fact that three of them looked like him or the fact that Dennis was standing over him. 

“Hi!” Dennis said cheerfully, “what’s your name?” The boy looked up, a sly smile snaking across his face,

“Yu-4RI,” the boy spoke, “and who might you people be?” This time it was Yugo who jumped in pulling the boy to his feet, 

“Hi! I’m Yugo, this is Yuya and Yuto and this guy,” he threw an arm around Dennis’ shoulders, “is Dennis, we’re escaping this hell hole! You coming?”

“No.” Yugo blinked, and Dennis sighed, peeling Yugo’s arm off. 

“Look, Yuri…” 

“Excuse me?” The boy flinched, magenta eyes blinking in confusion, “Did you just name me?” 

“Yes, Yuri, Yu-4RI is too complicated. I realise Yugo is a little bit of a… handful…”

“What did you just say?!” Yugo yelled, Dennis ignored him,

“But the truth is you can trust us and we are leaving, do you want to come?”

“I—I can’t…” Yuri said, suddenly afraid, “it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring me…”

“Nonsense!” Dennissaid, holding his hand out to Yuri. Yugo bounced over to join Yuya and Yuto by the door. 

“Come on, Yuri. Let’s get going!”


End file.
